​Robert Tonner, Wonder Woman, and a Super-Sized Secret

In February of this year, I got a delightfully unexpected phone call from everyone’s favorite doll artist, Robert Tonner.

I’ve been sitting on a secret ever since.

A "Secret" Mission

Robert and I have met at many doll events over the years and repainting his dolls has brought me tremendous joy. He has come to know my work and I am happy to call him a friend. Still, I can’t begin to describe my surprise and excitement when Robert asked if I would lend my repainting skills to the prototype process of the Tonner licensed Gal Gadot Wonder Woman doll. Tonner was in the process of obtaining approval from Warner Bros, and Robert wanted the prototype head to be the most beautiful and accurate likeness of any Gal Gadot WW licensed collectible. I was honored to try my hand at a prototype facepaint that would do justice to the beautiful Gal Gadot. As always in the licensing process - I was sworn to secrecy.

Perfecting the Prototype

I delivered the result to Robert at his new Phyn and Aero studio and I am happy to say he was pleased. When I showed him the paint, I also made a few minor suggestions as to how the sculpt might be improved for likeness. When it comes to dolls sculpts, the tiniest tweaks and changes can make all the difference in getting a spot on resemblance. Fortunately, Robert’s new method of digital sculpting makes changes much easier to acheive. We discussed it a bit and agreed that a few areas might need minor adjustment based on photo references we looked at together.

​Warner Bros Studio Approval

Next I heard was that Warner Bros was happy with the resemblance, but wanted a minor tweak to the brows. I repainted them and was excited to hear she was approved. In the interim, Robert also made some of the changes to the sculpt that we had discussed. The final paint that was revealed yesterday was not mine, but I am very proud to have had some artistic input in the development of this beautiful doll. She is an epic Tonner creation with an extraordinary attention to detail that I’m sure will be even more amazing to see in person. I am so happy to finally let this very exciting cat out of the bag!​Unboxing in December 2017 - Order Yours Now!

I can’t wait to see her in person and have been promised to receive one of the first “hot off the presses” deluxe editions. Robert has agreed that I can do a video unboxing so that you can all see her as soon as I do. In the meantime, I will be working on my new studio here in North Carolina, which I hope to show when I unbox this beautiful doll in December. Make sure you are first in line on Thursday, September 28, 2017 to pre-order your doll on the Tonner Site - she is sure to sell out quickly!